11 22 2015 “A Blind Beggar Receives Sight” John 9:1-12
Today we examine the sixth sign chosen by John to demonstrate Jesus’ Messiahship, recorded in John 9:1-12. There we read: “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; (Jesus’ life on earth would only be around 3 months more.) the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?" 9 Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he." 10 Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight." 12 Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."
The Cause and Condition of the Blind Beggar
Jesus comes upon a man who was blind from birth and His disciples ask if his blindness was a result of the sin of the man or his parents and Jesus responds that their assumptions are incorrect; Jesus’ answer concerning this man’s sickness relates to God’s divine purposes and not to the cause of his suffering: The reason for the man’s blindness is that the works of God should be revealed in him. This is an astounding statement which tells us that God is Sovereign even over evil and evil ultimately contributes to God’s glory. God is the one who works all things to His glory, including blindness from birth AND spiritual blindness from birth.
Here’s an aside: We are created by God FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE and Glory (Rev. 4:11); HE DOES not exist for our glory. If suffering comes our way by divine sovereignty, He promises that His grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9-10) Often people raise the question “why do bad things happen to good people, but that is not really the issue. Since we are all sinful and evil people the question to consider is “why more bad things don’t happen to sinful people?” The answer is- THE GRACE OF GOD.
The fact that the man was blind from birth demonstrated a hopeless situation from a human societal standpoint. He never knew anything BUT blindness and blind people became beggars and relied on the good will of passers-by. Because he was born in darkness and never possessed sight, he had no experiential knowledge of “light”; he had never seen it. But his hopeless condition is not solely about the physical.
Symbolically the man’s condition reveals mankind’s sinful condition apart from God’s Salvation in Christ: We are all spiritually blind and dead in our sins from birth. According to John’s gospel, lacking “light” (being blind) would be the same as being without life. People sin, not because they learn to sin, not because they are exposed to sin, but they sin because at their very core, they are sinful. Everyone born since Adam has been born a sinner except the Lord Jesus.
Suffering and sickness are not always the results of individual or personal sin. His blindness was not the result of his sin or because of his parents’ sin; he was born in sin. It is true that he inherited his sinful nature from his parents, but first and foremost he inherited his sinful nature from our first parents, Adam and Eve. The beggar, like all people of the world, was born in sin and spiritual blindness and would remain in darkness without the gracious illumination of the Lord Jesus who is the Light of the World.
Jesus reasserts His previous claim in verse 5, that He alone could give life and light as the “Light of the World” as Jesus shines His Light. His ability to heal physically but more importantly spiritually as the Messiah was clearly proclaimed in the book of Isaiah: Isa. 35:4-6: “Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you." 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.”
Isaiah 61:1-2: 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.”
Isaiah 29:18 said: “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.” And Isaiah 42:6-7 proclaimed "I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, 7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.”
The Lord’s Creation of sight is an example of God’s Salvation.
Doesn’t that last verse describe the blind beggar? Jesus came in order “To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness.” The miracle of creating sight for this man is really a picture or parable of God’s Salvation to those who are lost and in bondage to the darkness of sin and death. The blind beggar had NO HOPE in himself or others; he was destined to spend the rest of his life in darkness. He did not call or seek Jesus but Jesus Himself came to him and initiated the miracle. The same is true of regeneration in a dead sinner’s heart: God begins this miracle because dead people can’t do anything to help themselves. They are blind to the things of faith, blind to their own condition since they have never seen the light, and they are helpless to do anything to help themselves, just like the blind beggar.
Notice this in the miracle: Jesus did not restore the beggar’s sight but CREATED sight for him. He didn’t restore or repair what he once had: He created eyes that would see. The scene is rather unusual, isn’t it? “When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.” Genesis 2: 7 teaches that “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.” For the blind beggar, Jesus reaches to the dirt but also to his own saliva to bring eyes to the man; there isn’t anything magical about dirt or saliva mixed with it: This is how God chose to cure the blind man.
The fact that Jesus used his own saliva in this miracle could very well have been controversial to the Jews since saliva can produce the state of uncleanness mentioned in Leviticus 15:8; I think that that is actually a good point: Only Jesus could provide healing and cleanliness from uncleanness. He alone is the One who can cleanse the unclean, and so He further cements His claim as the Messiah. Jesus’ own Word would have been enough to provide life and light, but here Jesus chose to anoint the man’s eyes and touch Him. This was the Father’s will in this instance, but it does not mean that healing only comes by anointing or by touch, as we know from other miracles.
Very significantly, Jesus “SENDS” the man to wash in the pool of Siloam, which means “SENT”, and Jesus is the supremely “SENT ONE” from God the Father. Jesus includes a command in order to accomplish this miracle. To this point Jesus is taking all the initiative but now, with the man’s obedience, the healing is affected. Still we know that it was NOT the saliva-ridden clay or the water of the pool of Siloam (or Shiloh), nor even the mans’ obedience which caused the newly-created sight, but the action of the SENT ONE, the Lord Jesus, Himself. At the heart of the Pharisee’s discussion and debate is the very person of Jesus. Who is this man?
You have to notice that Jesus’ miracles are very serene with no hype, no preparation, no yelling or blowing, no prancing around like today’s TV ministries. Jesus exercises His power and authority with dignity and the results are still spectacular and effective. The reason the man was healed is not the blind man responded, although that is certainly included. The reason the man was healed is that it is Jesus who gave the command and He sent and created sight.
Look again at the verses from 7b-11: “So he went and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?" 9 Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he." 10 Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" 11 He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight."
There has been discussion for years about the role of faith in healing. People ask: “How much faith does it take to be healed?” or “If you only had enough faith, you would be healed.” In John 5:1-13, Jesus issued a command to the paralytic to “Take up your bed and walk,” and the man did so. Here in John 9 Jesus applies an application and instruction, the man obeys and receives sight, but in neither case is faith mentioned nor is it necessary or sufficient condition for healing. The miracles of Jesus are provided to demonstrate that Jesus is Messiah, God in the flesh and with His coming He brings in the Kingdom of God to mankind. It is in the will, sovereignty and glory of God that healing and miracles occur, not in man’s faith, but in the all sufficient OBJECT of that faith. It is the power of the Almighty Father manifested through His SENT ONE which causes the healing.
The Blind beggar is initially WITHOUT ANY FAITH whatsoever. The obedience response of this poor man to the command of Jesus is certainly part of him COMING to saving faith, but Jesus is the mighty power behind the man receiving physical sight and light and ultimately spiritual light and life. Remember, this man had absolutely nothing at all and Jesus is the one who gave Him Light and Life. That is the spiritual condition of unsaved man: no one has any possibility of coming to faith without the power and word of God to initiate such faith.
Again, many who witnessed this spectacular work of God attempt to discredit this miracle of sight; Next week we will continue to see that the entirety of chapter 9 is about a man coming to faith in Christ as he is drawn by the Father through Jesus the Son.
I. The Cause of the Man’s blindness reveals man’s sinful Condition.
1. Spiritual blindness is the natural condition of sinful man: we are all blind from birth.
2. People sin because they are sinful; suffering is part of being in a sinful world.
3. The World remains in darkness without the Light of the World.
4. Jesus reasserts His previous claim: I am the “Light of the World”.
(Isa. 35:4-6, 61:1-2, 29:18, 42:6-7)
II. The Lord’s Creation of sight to the blind beggar is an example of God’s Salvation.
1. Jesus initiates the miracle: The blind man did not seek Jesus, Jesus came to Him.
2. Jesus did not restore the beggar’s sight but created sight for him.
3. The Miracle included an anointing and a touch by Jesus.
4. The Miracle included a Command.
5. The Miracle included an obedient response.
